


burn it like it's fading

by blackkat



Series: Bleach Drabbles [7]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Avengers fusion, First Meetings, Friendship, Humor, Ichigo is Very Done, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-22 11:11:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19666294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackkat/pseuds/blackkat
Summary: “Youwhat?” Ichigo squawks.Rukia smirks at him. Evilly, because that’s how Rukia does most things. Ichigo can’t believe her innocent act fools anyone at all, ever, but it does. “I said, the Gotei 13 is giving you Grimmjow for your team.”Ichigo stares at her, debating the logistics of throwing himself out of the glass wall of the elevator. “Grimmjow,” he repeats. “Rukia, I don’t know if you noticed, but Grimmjow is asupervillain.”





	burn it like it's fading

**Author's Note:**

> For a prompt: I would love to see a bleach superhero AU, maybe avengers style about Ichigo with maybe some of the Espada in it, like Ulquiorra or Grimmjow or Starrk, or even better all three of them!

“You _what_?” Ichigo squawks.

Rukia smirks at him. Evilly, because that’s how Rukia does most things. Ichigo can’t believe her innocent act fools anyone at all, ever, but it _does_. “I said, the Gotei 13 is giving you Grimmjow for your team.”

Ichigo stares at her, debating the logistics of throwing himself out of the glass wall of the elevator. “Grimmjow,” he repeats. “Rukia, I don’t know if you noticed, but Grimmjow is a _supervillain_.”

Rukia rolls her eyes. “He’s minor leagues at best,” she counters. “And he’s been in anger management classes since he was apprehended. We’ve got a stolen device capable of altering reality, a _real_ supervillain trying to take over the world, and an alien invasion that’s going to happen if we don’t stop Aizen from using the Hōgyoku to bring his space army here. I think this situation calls for desperate measures, Ichigo.”

She’s right, even if Ichigo doesn’t want her to be. He grimaces, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck, and lifts his head to watch the number of the floors they’re passing rise. “At least tell me you’ve got another Gotei 13 agent on the team,” he says.

Rukia’s hesitation makes him glance over, frowning, but it’s not evil glee that’s taken over her face this time. It’s something sad, something tired, and her smile when she meets his gaze is crooked. “Well,” she says softly. “It was going to be Shuuhei, but…”

But. Because somehow Aizen managed to turn one of the most loyal men Ichigo knows into his own personal flying monkey, and now Shuuhei is helping a madman take over the world. Ichigo sets his jaw, the remnants of his half-buried anger curling down his spine like poison.

“Right,” he says grimly, as the elevator come a smooth halt. “So there’s Grimmjow. Who else?”

The doors slide open on a meeting room, a table with six chairs around it. Slouched in one of them is the unfortunately familiar figure of Ichigo’s part-time nemesis and least favorite mercenary, and Grimmjow looks up and grins, all teeth.

“Hey there, _Ichigo_ ,” he says, full of bloody humor. “Looks like you get to be my probation officer, huh?”

Ichigo can’t even spare him a glance, though. Full of horror, he stares at the other occupants of the table, even as Nelliel waves brightly, Stark yawns, and Ulquiorra gives him a flat, cold look at odds with the pretty orange flower in his hair. Ichigo _recognizes_ that flower. He really wishes he didn’t. Most of the time Orihime is kind enough to let him forget about her _thing_ with the supervillain who at one point kidnapped her, so getting the reality of it shoved into his face is a little like getting dunked in a landfill unexpectedly.

That’s not even the worst of it. On Ulquiorra’s other side, a man looks up and smiles, bright and cheerful, and Ichigo’s hand closes over Rukia’s arm like a vise.

“Excuse us for a minute,” he says, strangled, and drags her through the closest door.

It’s a file room. Ichigo will take it.

“That is _Kaien Shiba_ ,” he says loudly, half-strangled, and jabs a finger back at the other room. Rukia does not look suitably impressed, so Ichigo waves his hands at her frantically. “Rukia, that is _Commander Kaien Shiba_ , who died _fifty years ago_.”

“He didn’t die, obviously,” Rukia says, like anything about this is obvious at all. The smile she turns on Ichigo is perfectly sweet, but also a little dreamy. “We found him frozen in the Arctic a few months ago, and he asked to be part of the team.”

“And you said _yes_?”

Rukia flushes, just slightly, but Ichigo knows her more than well enough to catch it. “He’s a supersoldier,” she says primly. “And he’s had experience with the Hōgyoku. If anyone can help us take down Aizen, it’s him.”

Ichigo stares at her, eyes narrowing. “This is just because he agreed to sign your trading cards, isn’t it.”

Rukia goes red, and promptly kicks him in the shin. “Shut up, idiot, it is not! Kaien is on your team, so stop arguing.”

Ichigo groans. “Next you’re going to say you got me Urahara, too,” he says grumpily.

“We tried,” Rukia says breezily. “He hung up on us.”

Ichigo grinds his knuckles into her skull for that, and feels no pity.

“I don’t like this,” Starrk says, though he doesn’t move from where he’s leaning back against the bulkhead of the jet, narrow eyes on their prisoner.

Aizen just smiles, thin and amused, eyes bright behind his glasses. He doesn’t speak, which Ichigo is grateful for; tensions are already running high enough as it is.

“Only another hour back to headquarters,” he says, leaning against the edge of the cockpit and folding his arms over his chest. Half a glance shows that Nel is fending off Grimmjow as he tries to adjust the course, but she seems to be holding her own, so Ichigo doesn’t step in.

Starrk hums, noncommittal, but shifts faintly so that he can get to his guns more easily. It’s not like Ichigo blames him, and as the jet shudders in the stormy weather, he lets out a breath, trying to relax. Ulquiorra’s dark, steady stare, fixed right on Aizen, isn’t doing much to help matters.

From the far end of the hold, Kaien lifts his head, frown suddenly deepening. “Kurosaki,” he starts, just as something hits the plane.

There’s a flurry of cries, a curse from the cockpit as Nel tries desperately to stabilize the plane’s lurching, and Ichigo hits the ground hard, rolls up with a growl as Grimmjow snarls and lunges, but it’s too late. The rear door wrenches open, superhuman strength tearing it like tissue paper, and in the opening a lean figure rises, grinning.

“I think you found somethin’ of mine,” the man says, and raises a slim sword. Ichigo has just enough time to see Aizen’s eyes go wide with an emotion startlingly close to panic before there’s a whirl of pink mist, a roar of wind, and everything turns upside down and backwards in a rush.

By the time his vision snaps back to normal, the blond stranger and Aizen are both gone.

“Nel!” Ichigo calls, even as he staggers to his feet and grabs for one of the parachutes along the wall.

“I’m bringing us around now!” Nel calls back. “They’re on the ground, due west!”

At least the stranger didn’t take Aizen far, Ichigo thinks grimly, and tosses the chute to Kaien. “Put us down as close as you can,” he orders, and meets Kaien’s eyes as he reaches for the badge on his belt. “Shiba and I will follow now.”

“Sir, yes, sir,” Kaien says with a crooked smile, and pulls the chute on, doing up the straps with a familiarity that says the Gotei 13 trained him in it recently. Ichigo doesn’t ask for his qualifications; he brings the badge to his chest and activates it, and with a hiss the nanotech spreads, forming armor in a rush. Bone white and black, with a high collar and a mask like a grinning skull, and Ichigo fits it over his face, takes a step, and leaps from the edge of the open door, Kaien half a step behind him. The roar of the jet boots coming to life is drowned out by the wind, but Ichigo angles for the ground, calling up the readout of the area.

Aizen and his abductor are easy to spot, on a hilltop close by, and Ichigo picks up the audio even as he arrows towards them.

“Shinji,” Aizen says, something close to placating. “I—”

“You don’t get to talk right now, yeah?” Shinji says, a dangerous drawl. Ichigo grits his teeth and adds more speed. “Listen here, you little rat—”

Ichigo hits him full on, carrying them both safely out of reach, and leaves Aizen to Kaien. Slams the stranger into the ground, rolls up into a crouch, and lets his sword materialize in his hand, the slim black nodachi shimmering faintly in the moonlight.

“You look like you escaped from a hipster café,” he says, as the blond man rises. “Why don’t you go back to shopping for ugly hats and leave this to us?”

Shinji laughs, his own sword coming up, and that grin is entirely a threat, lazy and dangerous. “Sōsuke is my problem,” he counters, tipping his hat back. “He attacked the Vizored first, an’ he’s still the god of lies. Makes him my territory. You humans need to get yer hands off.”

“Before you make us?” Ichigo finishes, unimpressed, and calculates his odds of Getsuga Tensho working. Fair, by his estimation. “What, are you the god of empty threats?”

Shinji’s grin is white in the moonlight, but there’s something dark behind it, like a shadow of black wings. “Nah,” he says, and the thrill of a predator right in front of him hits Ichigo like attraction, like the sudden realization that it’s been a _long_ time since he faced someone who wasn’t even vaguely wary of him and that he likes it. “Me? I’m the god of _revenge_.”

That pink mist swirls up again, and the world inverts. Somewhere in the distance, Ichigo can hear running steps, Kaien’s shout, but Shinji is right in front of him and Ichigo can’t focus on anything beyond the power as he brings his sword up.

A trident slides between them with a whirl of water following, just as powers strike like a gong and the world goes white.

Given the way Ichigo’s life goes, Shinji turning out to be an ally is probably predictable. It doesn’t do a lot to make his aching head feel any better, though, and he scowls across the table at the smirking god, entirely out of patience.

“Aizen is working for _who_?” he demands.

“No one by _choice_ ,” Shinji says, faintly grudging, and grimaces. “Sōsuke’s not the type to work for anyone. But someone got t’ him, and I’m supposed to stop him.”

Ichigo is absolutely sure there’s more to the story than that, but he shifts the icepack on his head and decides he really doesn’t care to know. “Fine. So what’s Aizen’s plan here?”

Shinji’s grin really has no right to be as intriguing as it is, especially when it simultaneously makes Ichigo want to punch him in the face. “That’s what I’m hopin’ you’ll help me find out.”

Across the table, Starrk hums, rising to his feet. “Why don’t we ask him?” he suggests, and Ichigo and Shinji share a look.

“You sure you wanna do that?” Shinji asks, doubtful. “Sōsuke’s a bastard by nature, but he’s twice as bad right now.”

Starrk doesn’t look at him, though. He looks over at the bridge of the Helicarrier, where General Kyōraku is calling orders, a little girl with green hair one half-step behind him, and the slant of his mouth is something wry. “I have some things to make up for,” he says. “Let me.”

“Well,” Shinji says in the aftermath, sprawling out on the couch that miraculously survived the destruction of the tower’s main room. “Seems like a win.”

Ichigo is tired enough to sink down next to him, even though he should be calling his sisters, calling Orihime and Chad and making sure they’re safely on their way back to Karakura. “The city almost got nuked,” he says, but—

It didn’t. and Shinji’s right. That’s close enough to a win in Ichigo’s books.

Tipping his head back, Shinji watches him with hooded eyes, smirk still curling his mouth. “Yer not so bad, for a human,” he says.

“And you’re insufferable,” Ichigo retorts, though he doesn’t mean it as much as he did a few hours ago.

It makes Shinji laugh, and he holds out a hand. “Think I can stick around for a bit?” he proposes. “Seems like we’ve got a good thing goin’ with this team.”

Ichigo huffs, amused, and reaches out to grip his hand, inhumanly warm. _A god_ , he thinks, and it’s not awe. Just…wonder. And maybe a healthy dose of curiosity.

“I think we can work something out,” he agrees.


End file.
